Subaru Solterra 2024 review: Touring long-term | Part 1

Subaru finally has a fully electric vehicle in its model line-up, with the all-new Solterra mid-size SUV well and truly late to the party.

To be fair, Subaru isn’t the only legacy brand that’s been slow to move on the EV front. In fact, another Japanese marque in the same bucket is Toyota, so it’s ironic the two teamed up to produce Subaru’s Solterra and its near-identical twin, Toyota’s awkwardly named bZ4X.

Badging aside, only car spotters can tell the difference between the Solterra and bZ4X in passing, such are the similarities between their exterior and interiors – and under the metal for that matter.

But I’ll detail the Solterra’s design and practicality in the second instalment of this long-term EV Guide review, with my driving impressions and final verdict reserved for the third and final edition.

In this first report I’ll be covering its pricing, features and after-sales support. And yes, I’ll be sharing my EV charging and driving range experiences along the way. Let’s get to it!

Priced to compete?

The Solterra on test here is an example of the flagship Touring grade, which is priced from $76,990, plus on-road costs. That’s a considerable sum before you even factor in that it was priced $6700 higher than that before deliveries began in March this year.

Yep, Subaru read the room a month earlier and realised a sticker price of $83,690 for the Solterra Touring just wasn’t going to cut it in 2024. The only problem is that $76,990 doesn’t really, either.

Why? Look no further than the rivalling Tesla Model Y, the equivalent Long Range variant of which also offers all-wheel drive, but for $69,900 at the time of writing – that’s a significant $7090 advantage. Ouch.

Note that the Solterra’s unnamed range-opener currently lists for $69,990 instead of its original $77,990, offering AWD to counter the Model Y’s entry-level Rear-Wheel Drive version, which presently asks for ‘just’ $55,900 – an inexplicable difference of $14,090.

Now, Tesla has been changing Model Y (and Model 3) prices at such a rate that it’s no guarantee that the figures mentioned above are even accurate on the day you’re reading this.

But even so, the Model Y still offers buyers more of pretty much everything, irrespective of price, but more on that later. The upshot is the Solterra is in a tough spot from the get-go.

What of the bZ4X? Well, it’s uniquely available in front-wheel drive for $66,000, with the AWD version checking in at $74,900. And then there’s more established rivals like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (from $67,500) and Kia EV6 (from $72,590), which make the case for the Solterra even tougher on paper.

So, in the face of all of that, who does the Solterra appeal to? The answer is pretty simple: current and former Subaru owners, who have an affinity for the brand.

It’s a similar situation for the bZ4X, with Toyota Australia building its entire national marketing campaign for it around the fact buyers will (theoretically) make it their first EV because “it’s a Toyota”.

Fully loaded – almost

Forgetting pricing for a moment, standard equipment in the Solterra includes adaptive LED headlights, dusk-sensing lights, rain-sensing wipers, power-folding side mirrors with heating, puddle lights, roof rails, keyless entry, rear privacy glass, a power tailgate and a rear spoiler.

Inside, the Solterra’s 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia system supports wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and features satellite navigation and digital radio.

It also has push-button start, a digital rearview mirror, dual-zone climate control, a heated steering wheel, heated front and rear outboard seats, a digital rear view mirror and an eight-way power-adjustable driver seat.

Note that the high positioning of the 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster negates the need for a head-up display.

The Solterra’s safety features extend to seven airbags (dual front, side and curtain plus a front-centre) autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-keep and steering assist, adaptive cruise control, highway assist, and road sign recognition.

There's also high-beam assist, driver attention monitoring, surround-view cameras, parking sensors, safe exit assist and tyre pressure monitoring.

As a result, Australia’s independent vehicle safety authority, ANCAP, awarded the Solterra a maximum five-star safety rating under its 2022 protocol.

But note the $7000 premium the Solterra’s Touring grade commands over its unnamed range-opener upgrades the 18-inch alloy wheels to 20-inch items, the six-speaker sound system to a 10-speaker Harman Kardon unit, and the seat upholstery from cloth to synthetic leather (both black).

It also adds auto-dipping side mirrors, a panoramic sunroof, a wireless smartphone charger, LED ambient lighting, driver memory functionality, an eight-way power-adjustable front passenger seat and park assist. That’s worth the extra money, I say (I’m an audiophile).

The Solterra’s options list is limited, with our test vehicle featuring 'Harbour Mist Grey Pearl'/'Galactic Black' two-tone paintwork, which is one of the eight colour choices, six of which are no-cost. I think this combination looks pretty cool in a sea of white, silver, grey and black vehicles, even if it does command a $1200 premium.

What’s unavailable altogether? Well, there’s no spare wheel, with a tyre puncture repair kit annoyingly supplied, instead. Vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality isn’t present, and the driver and front passenger miss out on cooled seats – and that’s about it.

So, the Solterra is comprehensively equipped from a features point of view, however that’s not where it struggles against the Model Y. But more on that in a moment.

Like all Subaru Australia models, the Solterra comes with a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is the industry standard these days.

It’s a year longer than Tesla's cover but two years short of Kia’s market-leading term (with no servicing strings attached). Either way, the high-voltage battery is covered by a separate eight-year/160,000km warranty. 

Pleasingly, roadside assistance is included for the first five years. But the best news is on the servicing front. It’s free for the first five years or 75,000km (whichever comes first).

Service intervals are set at every 12 months or 15,000km, which is annoyingly on the shorter side for an EV – but who cares when you don’t have to pay for the pleasure of the first five visits! It certainly makes the list pricing pill easier to swallow.

The EV of it all

No matter the grade, the Solterra is powered by dual 80kW/168.5Nm permanent magnet electric motors, which are split between the front and rear axles to enable full-time AWD.

They combine to deliver an encouraging 160kW of power and 337Nm of torque, which results in a 0-100km/h sprint time of 6.9 seconds, and a top speed of 160km/h. For reference, the Model Y Long Range takes 5.0 seconds to hit triple digits, and has a terminal velocity of 217km/h.

The Solterra is fitted with a 71.4kWh lithium-ion battery, which offers a WLTP-rated driving range of 414km, but that pales in comparison to the Tesla Model Y Long Range’s 533km from an estimated 75.0kWh unit.

To put that into better perspective, in my first month with the Solterra Touring, my average energy consumption was 18.6kWh/100km, which equates to a real-world driving range of 384km. That’s fine if you live in the urban jungle and rarely venture far out of it, but for everyone else it’s far from ideal.

That said, the Solterra supports up to 150kW of DC fast charging, enabling it to charge its battery from flat to 80 per cent capacity in a reasonable 30 minutes using a CCS plug.

Up to 11kW of AC is also supported, for a full charge in 6.5 hours using a Type 2 plug. Note that a three-pin to Type 2 cable is included to enable AC charging up to 2.0kW via a domestic power outlet, but doing so will take an agonising 35 hours to charge.

And there’s always the regenerative braking on hand for charging while on the move, with four levels available, the strongest of which doesn’t quite enable one-pedal driving, as the friction brakes are still required to bring the Solterra to a standstill. It will, however, get you to walking pace.

And with that, we’ve reached the end of the first instalment of this long-term EV Guide review. Stay tuned for the second edition, which will deep-dive the Solterra’s design and practicality. See you then!

Acquired: June 13, 2024

Distance travelled this month: 860km

Odometer: 5375km

Average energy consumption this month: 18.6kWh/100km